Something Different
by austinsky23
Summary: What feels new is something old. What seems familiar is something different.
1. Chapter 1

The soft hue of the fading sun crept through the velvet curtains and caught my eyes, waking me from my slumber. "Just five more minutes," I cried internally, knowing that my mom would come yell at me if I even dared tried to fall back asleep. And my grandfather would be right behind her saying that a "vampire cannot vaste precious moonlight staying in bed". So I pulled myself out from under my comforter, threw on the first shirt and pair of pants I could find, and walked myself towards the kitchen.

At the top of the steps I could see that the lobby was flooding with people and monsters, not unusual for a Friday but I didn't have the energy to deal with a large crowd. As I was about to walk back to my room, I felt the wind get knocked out of me as I hit the ground with a thud. I looked up and saw the familiar blue eyes of my friend, Winnie.

"Hi Dennis!" she said with the same amount of enthusiasm she always has. Even at 17, she continues to greet me in the same way. The only thing that changed was her strength, damn can she hit hard.

I smiled up at her as I pushed myself up on my elbows, trying not to show that I was in pain "oh h-hey Winnie, what's up?"

She sat back on my lap, her tail swaying vigorously from side to side "Not much! I was bored and wanted to see what you were doing! I went to your room but you weren't there so-" She paused and her smile ceased, "oh my gosh, did I hurt you?! I'm so sorry!" I could hear a pang of sadness in her voice.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, I hated seeing Winnie get upset "No not at all! You just caught me by surprise is all, I'll be fine". She stood up and held out her paw for me, pulling me up with ease. "So you were saying?" I smiled.

A soft blush of embarrassment washed over her cheeks "well I wanted to know if you weren't busy tonight, that maybe you'd wanna hang out? I could buy us some ice cream as an apology for almost breaking your hip just now" she giggled, she had such an adorable laugh that made you smile.

"Haha well I wouldn't say you almost BROKE my hip, just maybe a rib or three" that got her howling with laughter which was too infectious not to laugh with her. We didn't realize how loud we were being until this one-eyed creature came out of his room and shushed us.

We giggled softly to ourselves, not ashamed that we were having fun. I looked up at Winnie and I found myself just staring at her for a second, I don't know what it was but I couldn't look away. Sure she's my best friend and I've looked at her plenty of times, but this time was…different. She looked back at me and had this look of confusion.

"Hey are you okay? You look a little...warm?"

I looked at the mirror on the wall and saw my face was almost entirely flushed. Was I blushing? Does Winnie know I'm blushing?

"Hm? Oh what? No yeah I'm fine, you just had this um...nevermind. So shall we go ice cream?" Nailed it.

Winnie leaned in close to me and whispered "aren't you forgetting something?"

I glanced down and noticed that I was still in my lazy outfit, complete with fuzzy slippers. Now I was really blushing and I could hear Winnie giggling wildly. I looked back at her and she smiled, her cheeks turning pink beneath her fur.

"Ah – yes well um…yes I will go put on actual clothes. Just wait here and I'll be right back!" Way to go, Dennis. You look like an idiot.

"I won't go anywhere." Winnie said with this sweet little grin. I chuckled and hurried back to my room. I looked back before turning the corner and caught Winnie staring at me, only to look away when our eyes met. Was she smiling? Was I still smiling? What am I gonna wear? Wait, why should I care? It's only Winnie after all…


	2. Chapter 2

The early evening was the best time to be out in Transylvania. Since most of the tourists didn't come out for another few hours, downtown was filled with mostly locals. The air wasn't too cold just yet and was perfect walking around weather. Winnie was talking about something Winston had done at school yesterday but for the life of me, I could not focus. I was watching her mouth move but no words were coming out. I found myself just observing her different Winnie-isms. Whenever she mentioned her brothers, her nose scrunched slightly. When a breeze came by, her right ear quickly flicked back. I feel like I should've noticed these things before. After all, I have known her for over 15 years.

It was as if I was critiquing a statue, admiring the attention to detail and the sheer beauty of it. I could feel my face becoming warmer which snapped me back into reality, I looked away so not to think about her. Winnie must've noticed because I saw out of the corner of my eye her look at me for a moment before going back to her story. And I swear I saw her cheeks turn that shade of pink again.

She was blushing, because of…me?

When we finally left the ice cream parlor, the streets were bustling with the usual night crowd so we decided to walk through the park. It was usually pretty empty on Fridays so we knew it wouldn't be so chaotic. There was a full moon out so I decided to do what I do best; make a dumb joke. I nudged Winnie, "don't go changing on me now," indicating the moon. She rolled her eyes and shoved her side into mine.

"Oh haha, you're _so_ funny. You should _really_ do stand up!" She chuckled, biting her lower lip.

"Maybe I should, I'd be a huge success!" I jumped up on a bench, "I'll tour all over the world," moving my right arm in a large sweeping motion. Winnie was giggling wildly, holding her paw up to her mouth to stifle her laughter.

"Oh my god, stop it. You don't want your head getting bigger than it already is!" she gave me this snarky little grin.

I was stepping off to come down when I slipped and fell backwards onto the bench seat, spilling my ice cream onto my face. Winnie burst out into hysterical laughter and leaned over me, offering me her paw. "This time you can't blame me!" She giggled, pulling me up.

I laughed, wiping the ice cream off my cheek and nose. "Ha, yeah you're right. Am I good?"

Winnie smiled, "yeah you're fine except for..." she leaned in and licked a bit of ice cream that was on my chin. "There! Now you're good."

I could feel my face getting hot, why am I getting so easily flustered tonight? She's done that thousands of times before. Why now am I feeling so…so…

I came back into reality and realized I was staring at her again but she was staring back. I could clearly see her cheeks beginning to flush beneath her fur. Her eyes were shimmering in the moonlight, when did she get so…beautiful?

"Winnie?"

"Yes, Dennis?" her voice cracked slightly.

"I—um…I think tha—"

 _ **CRRRAAAAACCCCK**_

Winnie let out a yelp and jumped into me, I could feel cold rain drops falling onto my head. I had no idea it was going to rain tonight. Of course nature had to fuck me over and ruin the moment. The rain was growing stronger when my eyes caught the sight of a gazebo just across the way. I grabbed Winnie's paw and rushed us to shelter. I can't tell if she was gripping hard because of what just happened or because she was scared of the lightning, either way I couldn't help but smile. We reached the gazebo but we were already soaking wet. Winnie shook off the excess water on her fur which made me chuckle a bit, causing Winnie to give me a playful pout.

"Hey! Don't mock my animalisms!" She scoffed and turned away.

"I would never," I moved to her side and shoved into her playfully, "I think they're cute."

Winnie's ears flattened and she turned to face me, "do you really?" There was a coyness in this question, as if there was something between the lines. I decided to be forward.

"Well…I think you're cute in general?" Oh yeah, I'm smooth.

Winnie's face flushed again beneath her damp fur, god she was pretty. She then moved so she was in front of me and with a smirk asked, "What else do you think about me?"

Damn, that caught me off guard and it was obvious. I stepped back slightly and immediately went red in the face, "oh well – you know I – I think you're…" I couldn't think of a comeback; I was at a loss for words. Winnie moved closer, her wet nose hovering so close to mine. I could feel her warm breath on my lips, it sent shivers down my spine. She always adored the fact that she was stronger than me. Especially in her family where everyone was always fighting for dominance. Even though we were best friends, she loved that she had this control over me.

"What's the matter," her snout touching gently on my nose, "feeling a little tongue tied?"

This was my opportunity; it was now or never. I put my hand on her cheek, her blue eyes widening. I leaned in and pressed my lips against hers. To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. I've never kissed anyone before, let alone another species. Her fur tickled my lips and chin. She placed her paws gently on my side as I placed my other hand on the back of her head. When we pulled away from each other, it was as if time was moving in slow-motion all around us. The sound of the rain was drowned out by my heart beating loudly in my ears with hers beating against my chest.

For a moment, we just stood there. Staring at the other with a look of shock and disbelief, neither of us said a word. I felt like I had done something wrong, like maybe I should apologize for being so forward (or at least for being a terrible kisser). Before I could think about what to say, Winnie's mouth began to form a smile. She bit on her lower lip and looked up at me, "well my zing, how about that?"

Zing. A name she had called me for years, a name that I had grown so accustomed to, a name that I actually felt for once.

"Yeah," my voice cracked softly, "how about it."


End file.
